Kurdish community, Kurdish Women

Statement on the Closure of Women’s Organisations on 12th November in Turkey.

Peace in Kurdistan Women’s Alliance for Kurdistan, Iraq and Syria 

(https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/activities/womens-alliance-for-kurdistan-iraq-and-syria/)

Peace in Kurdistan Women’s Alliance deplores the latest assault on Kurdish women’s movement in Turkey. Women such as those in KJA (Free Women’s Congress) have been waging a battle for women’s freedom for over 40 years, in the face of extreme opposition.

They have undoubtedly been instrumental in breaking down the barriers that have traditionally trapped women in the private sphere; they have been at the fore front of the movement to break down the barriers, inspiring women across the region to demand their equal rights and to participate equally in society, to seek equality in political office, for example, with each post being held jointly by a women and a man. Continue reading “Statement on the Closure of Women’s Organisations on 12th November in Turkey.” →

Kurdish community, Kurdish Women, Uncategorized

The Closure of KJA

Dear Women and Friends,

 On 12 November 2016, at 08.30 am, Turkish state security forces circumvented the KJA (Kongreya Jinen Azad – Free Women’s Congress) center in Diyarbakir and at 11.00 am, based on a statutory decree article issued under the State of Emergency rule, Turkey’s Ministry of Interior has suspended the KJA activities, and sealed and shut down its building.   Continue reading “The Closure of KJA” →

Armenian genocide, Uncategorized, Yezidi

WOMEN IN WAR RESOLUTION PASSED IN YEREVAN ON SEPTEMBER 19 th 2016

At the close of the conference entitled AFTER GENOCIDE: FROM TRAUMA TO REBIRTH: A GENDERED PERSPECTIVE held in Yerevan on September 16- 17-18-19th
2016 and organised by Women in War, in partnership with the Institute of Archaeology and
Ethnography in Yerevan and AGBU (Armenian General Benevolent Union) and DVV International (Yerevan), the international participants and organizers passed the following resolution: Continue reading “WOMEN IN WAR RESOLUTION PASSED IN YEREVAN ON SEPTEMBER 19 th 2016” →

HDP

Building solidarity with the Kurdish struggle for democracy, equality and freedom: Fringe Meeting at Labour Party Conference 2016

“This was a very well attended and successful fringe meeting and the first one that has been held at the Labour Party. It builds on the great work that UNITE, GMB and other unions have been doing with Peace in Kurdistan to build solidarity with the Kurds in their struggle for democracy, equality and freedom. It also builds on the path-breaking emergency motion that the TUC passed during its September conference in which all UK unions joined the call for the release of Abdullah Ocalan and the restart of the peace process. We intend to hold another fringe at next years party conference and to continue to push the case and spread the message.” Simon Dubbins Director of International for UNITE

The Freedom for Ocalan campaign held a fringe meeting at this year’s conference, co-sponsored by the GMB, UNITE and Peace in Kurdistan campaign. The Union movement has been very supportive of the campaign to free Ocalan, and in this, his 18th year of incarceration, it has passed an emergency resolution calling for, among other things , “the restart of the peace process that was unilaterally terminated by the Turkish government in June 2015, and for the release of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan as an essential element for such a process to be successful.” Continue reading “Building solidarity with the Kurdish struggle for democracy, equality and freedom: Fringe Meeting at Labour Party Conference 2016” →

Conflict resolution, Kurdish Women

REPAK Information File: Women of Resistance targeted by the state

Below is an excerpt from the latest information file published by the Kurdish Women’s Relations Office (REPAK. It details how women have been targeted by the Turkish state over the last several months.

You can download the full report here

Information File:

‘Women of Resistance Targeted By the State’
Turkish State Terror in Kurdistan and Feminicide

As of 11 January 2016

Contents

I. ‘Fight against terrorism’ or state terror against the people? Political evaluation and call

II. Chronology: Curfews

III. ‘Shoot the women first!’ List of women killed during curfews or by extralegal execution

Continue reading “REPAK Information File: Women of Resistance targeted by the state” →

Conflict resolution, Video

Video: Janet Biehl addresses seminar in London on pedagogy in Rojava

Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava
With author Janet Biehl

Public meeting and discussion with author Janet Biehl who talked about the new women’s science of “Jineology” and the revolutionary transformation of education. She has visited Rojava twice and reported on her recent visit. Organised by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and Roj Women Group at Doughty Street Chambers on 23 October 2015. The meeting was chaired by Elif Sarican, Kurdish Student Union.

Watch: https://vimeo.com/143755823

Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava With author Janet Biehl from Saman Gareeb on Vimeo.

Kurdish Women

Free women are the basis for a free society!

This article was originally published in the Kurdistan Report.

by Roza Nudem

weqfa logoOn 21 September 2014, the International Day of Peace, a women’s organisation for feminism in the Middle East was founded. The Foundation of Weqfa Jin Azad in Rojava (Foundation of Free Women of Rojava) was established, in a region in which war reigns, which has shocked the world through its brutality, but also in the context of a great and radical social change and revolution, especially as regards the role of women, which has inspired the world. The Foundation works with the motto “The free woman is the basis of a free society.”

The goal of the Foundation is ambitiously high. Through their work, they want to support women in Rojava, Syria and South Kurdistan in the process of emancipation. They are working for a comprehensive psychological and medical support for women and children, managed by women themselves. Through their nurseries they are forming education for children of all ethnicities in every mother tongue, with the goal of equality between sexes, peoples and religions, and for ethnic and democratic coexistence. They make it possible for women to enter into the economy through establishing cooperatives, creating training opportunities and work for women in different fields, and open up spaces in which women can sell their handwork. Not last, they create living space for women, in which they have the possibility of working through their traumatic experiences of war and to develop their own abilities and talents.

Continue reading “Free women are the basis for a free society!” →

Kurdish Women

EVENT: Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava

Public meeting and discussion with author Janet Biehl who will talk about the new women’s science of “Jineology” and the revolutionary transformation of eduction. She has visited Rojava twice and will report on her recent visit. You can view a video of the event here.

The meeting will be opened by Melanie Gingell, barrister, Doughty Street Chambers

Chaired by Elif Sarican, Kurdish Student Union

Date: Friday 23 October 6.30pm

Venue: Doughty Street Chambers, 54 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LS Continue reading “EVENT: Pedagogy for Revolution: The Case of Rojava” →

Conflict resolution, Kurdish Women

Delegation Report: Women’s delegation condemns the arbitrary killing of 21 civilians in Cizre

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign: DELEGATION REPORT                                                September 2015

 

Women’s delegation condemns the arbitrary killing of 21 civilians, collective punishment of communities and severe restrictions on the right to freedom of movement in Cizre.


“The siege exacted a heavy toll on women: one woman was shot dead as she ventured out to search for food, several women miscarried due to the stress of the bombardment, two women, a young mother carrying her baby, and the baby’s grandmother were killed as they tried to reach a neighbour’s house. The baby was injured as the mother fell, but survived.”

 

A three-woman delegation visited Cizre in South East Turkey between 17th and 20th September and reported about the conditions for the 100,000 residents following a 9-day round-the-clock curfew enforced by a shoot to kill policy. The delegation, consisting of two human rights lawyers, Margaret Owen and Melanie Gingell, and public health specialist, Dr Shatha Besarani, was invited by the Kurdish Women’s Council of Diyarbakir to consider how the siege impacted on women and children in the city. The council assisted the delegation in their visits to Cizre and Sur and ensured that the delegation was free to take testimony from the people they met there.

Continue reading “Delegation Report: Women’s delegation condemns the arbitrary killing of 21 civilians in Cizre” →

Conflict resolution, Peace process

Women warn UK government of dangers to Kurds

On Wednesday 23rd September at 4pm, a delegation of women delivered an open letter signed by a coalition of prominent women’s rights activists to 10 Downing Street. The letter urgently calls on David Cameron to use his influence with the Turkish government to stop the violence being perpetrated against Kurdish civilians in the south east of the country.

The delegation includes Michelle Allison (Kurdistan National Congress), Evrim Yilmaz (Roj Women Assembly) and human rights barrister Melanie Gingell, who has just returned from a fact-finding mission to Cizre, south east Turkey, which has been under curfew for several days and which has been a flashpoint of violence between Turkish security forces and Kurdish civilians in recent weeks.

Cameron has long insisted that Turkey, a NATO partner, is a strong friend to the UK. On his last official visit to Ankara, Cameron stated that Britain and Turkey would work “hand-in-glove” to combat ISIS. And yet he has turned away as the Turkish government used their apparent entry into the anti-ISIS coalition as a veil to break the ceasefire with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and attack Kurdish towns and villages. Continue reading “Women warn UK government of dangers to Kurds” →